Whether the endgame is obtaining official tribal membership, securing rightful financial benefits and/or inheritances, or simply satisfying curiosity, the journey of retracing Native American ancestry is rarely a straightforward experience. 200 years of nearly nonstop hardships ranging from forced relocation to government sanction mass killings led to fewer and fewer individuals able to maintain ties with their tribal cultures without putting their livelihoods or very lives at risk, Subsequently, these scattered remnants faded almost entirely from existence. The end result is both a lack of ancestors being traced to one specific place for multiple generations and a lack of cultural…